Dig It! Reveals Scotland's top archaeological discoveries of 2022'

The group has compiled five of the most impressive finds from the past 12 months as its team continue to encourage the public to "discover Scotland's stories".

Scotland’s biggest concentration of Neolithic axe grind points:

IN the summer of this year, “the discovery of a lifetime” was made when 33 U-shaped grooves (also known as polissoirs) made by Neolithic stone axes were uncovered. The site was located close to Balfron near Stirling, where more than 4500 years ago people treated the sandstone like a whetstone to smooth or sharpen tools before using them functionally to chop trees or ceremonially as gifts.

This site had been exposed before but had never been recorded and understood to the level that it is now. Only two other polissoir sites have been found so far in Scotland, so there is a possibility that people travelled miles to smooth or sharpen axes at specific locations.

Dr Murray Cook, Stirling Council’s archaeologist, said: “Discovery is at the heart of archaeology. The hope is that the next spade turns up something amazing but most of the time it’s just the routine and the truncated, fragments of a jigsaw without the picture.

“But Balfron was different, the discovery of a lifetime, these grooves are astonishing, we had never seen anything like them before and I’m not sure anyone in Britain had at this scale.

“To think that people kneeled here 6000 years ago and sharpened the stone axes that would clear Scotland’s primordial forests is just mind blowing.”

Beaker potsherd rescued from the waves

A rare sherd of 4,000 year old pottery (Image: Jenny Murray)

A RARE sherd of 4000-year-old pottery was discovered on Burra in August, and the artefact may help reveal information about the Early Bronze Age in Shetland.

Members of the public surveyed a half-submerged prehistoric house at Whalsie’s Ayre with Archaeology Shetland and PhD student Ellie Graham. The finding could also help record the effects of the climate crisis.

Graham said: “It's such a large and beautifully decorated piece in its own right, and it was in such a vulnerable position jutting out of the crumbling coast edge, so we were very lucky to recover it just in time before it was washed away.”

The piece has been confirmed as belonging to the Beaker tradition – a kind of pottery originally introduced to Britain around 2500 BC. The residue on the sherd interior will be analysed and could potentially identity what the vessel once contained, adding to understanding of this period in Shetland’s history.

Archaeological roots to the Merlin legend

A PROJECT initiated by the Arthur Trail Association is investigating the archaeological roots to the local Merlin legend in the Borders village of Drumelzier, after the excavation of Tinnis Castle.

The Merlin tale was set in the late sixth century and has been associated with the area for more than 600 years.

Findings revealed the base of a rampart which was burned to the ground and may predate the castle. Radiocarbon dating of the rampart will confirm when Tinnis was occupied and whether this ties in with the period in which the local legend was set, and therefore if the origins of Merlin plausibly originated at Drumelzier.

Ronan Toolis, a lead on the excavation, said: “Tinnis Castle has long fascinated people, attracting stories and legends – the haunt of medieval robber barons; the lofty throne of a Dark Age king; the prison of a soothsaying mage; the stronghold of a giant.

“But the archaeological finds from our dig will reveal the true story of Tinnis Castle and Fort.”

Medieval monastery which helped introduce Christianity to Scotland

In May, volunteers led by Dr Clare Ellis of Argyll Archaeology uncovered evidence which has helped identify a “nationally important” site on Lismore in the Inner Hebrides.

The team found medieval artefacts such as crucibles, moulds and glass which indicate that specialist craftspeople were producing high-status objects for a monastic community and its wealthy patrons at the Clachan site.

Dr Ellis said: “Our community excavation on Lismore has confirmed, for the first time, that Argyll’s first medieval cathedral was built on the site of the early Christian monastery established by St Moluag in the 7th-century AD.

“Our dig has shown that within the confines of this monastery, exquisite pieces of jewelry including rings and brooches were being produced. The discovery of intricate motif pieces, which are generally found in Ireland, also demonstrates the close connection between Lismore and Ireland in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.”

Rare 'landsale coal wharf’

A YEAR after uncovering 300-year-old rail timbers, the 1722 Waggonway Project unearthed another industrial-era structure connected to the site of Scotland’s first railway.

Archaeologists and volunteers discovered a stone structure believed to be a "landsale coal wharf" near Cockenzie Harbour in East Lothian. The structure would have been used to unload coal from a waggon at the coal depot located at the northern end of the line.

Believed to date to around 1830, it would have functioned similarly to the turntables and chutes employed at harbours and this example is believed to be the earliest excavated in Scotland.

Ed Bethune, chair of the 1722 Waggonway Project, said: “We’re delighted to have another level by finding the Waggonway’s landsale wharf at the Coalfauld.

“To find such a key piece of the operations in an area where the challenging environment forced us to keyhole into small pockets of available ground makes this find even more remarkable.

“All this new information helps us build a much clearer picture of how these vital industries functioned in 18th and 19th-century Scotland.”

Some other notable archaeological discoveries this year include hundreds of fragments of Mesolithic stone tolls in the Cairngorms, two newly identified Neolithic crannogs in the Outer Hebrides and possible evidence of Neolithic farming at a 5000-year-old cursus monument on the Isle of Arran.